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Angela Merkel’s popularity was at its peak when she stepped down as head of the German government a year ago after spending 16 years in office. But her image was rapidly eroded by the war in Ukraine and her alleged permissiveness towards Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Since leaving the chancellorship on December 8, 2021, merkel, 68 years old, lives away from the spotlight. The one who was considered for a long time as the most powerful woman in the world now works on her memories and enjoys the occasional television series.
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When she was at the helm of Europe’s largest economy, she enjoyed wide support and was known for being a staunch supporter of Western liberal values.
The offensive in Ukraine, launched on February 24 by the Russian president, cracked his aura and only 23% of Germans now want him to return to poweraccording to a Civey Institute survey from late November.
“One year later, the world is on fire, Russia invaded the Ukraine, gas and gasoline prices are through the roof, and Germany fears winter.”, explains an old confidant of merkelthe journalist Alexander Osang, from the magazine Der Spiegel.
“Angela Merkel went from model to culprit, from crisis manager to crisis causer“, Add.
The Russian embassy is located near the offices granted to the former foreign minister. Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Berliners regularly leave banners and flowers at the gates of the diplomatic mission.
invitation to bucha
The first woman to reach the summit of power in Germany has been accused, in this new context, of having been accommodating to the Russian president and of having deepened the country’s dependence on hydrocarbons from Moscow.
One of the decisions that he is accused of is having supported the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, even after the Russian annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014.
In the face of criticism, merkel He broke his silence and had to justify himself in several interviews with trusted journalists.
For Hedwig Richter, professor of modern history at the Bundeswehr University of Munich, Merkel’s loss of face has been “exceptional” and embodies the political misappraisals of an entire generation.
governments headed by merkel “They thought it was realistic to put values like human rights and climate protection behind. But now reality hits them back, ”he analyzes.
Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyconsider merkel largely responsible for NATO’s rejection of Ukraine’s candidacy in 2008.
Zelenskiy invited the former foreign minister to Bucha, a town outside kyiv where Russian forces have been accused of committing massacres and atrocities in April. SHis objective, he assured, was for Merkel to see “what the policy of concessions to Russia led to”.
The energy crisis triggered by the escalation of sanctions and reprisals after the start of the war further soured the spirits against merkel.
In the public debate, “Merkel was linked to this war and was certainly guilty of the lack of gas”said Nico Fried, who covered German government activities during the four terms of merkel for Stern magazine.
“The question is what remains of merkel after 16 years, if your historical portrait is already fading before it has been framed”, he comments.
“calculation errors”
According to Richter, the achievements of merkel include its refugee policy, which allowed the entry of more than a million asylum seekers after the crackdown on the Arab Springs at the beginning of the last decade.
But merkel He made two serious miscalculations, he analyzes.
On one side, “the inability of the republic [alemana] to defend itself”. The researcher points to the lack of investment in Defense, which implied a dependence on the United States.
On the other, the fact of having neglected the environmental issue, “closely linked to Russia’s dependence on fossil fuels.”
“Merkel governments horribly neglected these two issues”, he insists.
In his last interviews, merkel He has defended his legacy. He claimed to have used the Nord Stream gas pipeline as a bargaining chip to ensure Putin respected the 2015 Minsk accords, which sought to end fighting in eastern Ukraine.
merkel He further revealed that he promised US President Joe Biden last year to denounce the pipeline deal in case Russia invaded Ukraine.
Osang, the journalist for Der Spiegel, underlines the irony that it was “precisely Putin, whom [Merkel] he has known so well and for so long, with all his tricks, lies and bragging”, whoever has tarnished his reputation.
Source: Elcomercio
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
